Gojira’s Joe Duplantier to Protest for the Release of Ocean Conservationist Paul Watson
While Gojira has been in the news lately primarily for their stunning performance at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, he’s now making headlines for another reason. Gojira vocalist and guitarist Joe Duplantier announced on social media that he will be attending a peaceful protest in Denmark to demand the release of environmental activist and ocean conservationist Paul Watson.
According to Yahoo! News, Watson is a dual citizen of America and Canada and was an early member of Greenpeace in the early ‘70s. In 1978 he founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a marine conservation activist organization. You might remember that Duplantier is a supporter and member of Sea Shepherd, and Gojira even announced a Sea Shepherd EP back in 2013, but hard drive failures kept the project from being released, with only the first single “Of Blood and Salt” being released. Gojira has talked as recently as 2023 about making another attempt to release the EP. Watson was removed from the board of directors of Sea Shepherd Global in 2022 due to his opposition to the organization’s partnership with national governments, but several chapters of Sea Shepherd, including the French chapter that Duplantier is part of, have pledged their allegiance to Watson over the Global group.
Watson was arrested in Greenland when his vessel, the John Paul Dejoria, stopped there to refuel on its way to intercept the Japanese whaling ship, the Kangei Maru. Japan pulled out of the International Whaling Commission in 2019 to resume commercial whaling, making them a prime target for activists like Watson. The arrest came because there was an international warrant out for Watson’s arrest for accomplice to assault and ship trespass, which was issued after Sea Shepherd allegedly boarded a Japanese whaling ship in 2010.
Since Greenland is a territory of Denmark, he is being held there until August 15 while Denmark considers the possibility of extraditing him to Japan. Japan’s Ministry of Justice has stated that Watson’s crimes can result in anywhere from three to 15 years in prison. Watson is already 73 years old and, if he receives the maximum penalty, he would not be a free man again until he was 88, assuming he lives that long. Petitions have been launched both calling on French President Emmanuel Macron to demand Watson’s release and another asking Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, to release Watson.
Duplantier posted a video on Instagram yesterday about his plans to attend the peaceful protest, accompanied by text explaining the situation:
“We need to get him out of this situation immediately. His work is the perfect example of constructive ‘Civil Disobedience’. He’s only trying to slow down activities that are illegal in the first place. Whaling has been banned by international laws since 1986. In his own words ‘IF THE OCEANS DIE, WE DIE’ Paul also said ‘I DO WHAT I DO BECAUSE IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO’ He sees the importance of this fight for the Oceans and ultimately the survival of life on earth. This sums up why we need to stand for him before it’s too late. The decision of his extradition will be made on August 15 (in less than 2 weeks). We intend to be there and rally as many people as possible to sway the minister of Justice and the Prime Minister’s decision.”
If you would like to help the campaign to free Paul Watson and can’t make it to the protest in Denmark, you can sign the petition on the Paul Watson Foundation website calling on the Danish Prime Minister to release Watson. And yes, I signed the petition myself.
